11/2/09

By Rachel Azevedo

The percentage of women employed by Deschutes County in technician fields, service maintenance, and sworn protective services is significantly less than that of the greater public, according to new data. Deschutes County updates its employment numbers every two years to comply with federal guidelines.

"We're one of the larger employers in Central Oregon and it is important that we mirror and look like our community," said Deputy County Administrator, Erik Kropp.

The Deschutes County property and facilities department which includes everything from janitors to building maintenance says it's difficult to bridge the gap between men and women because of a lack of female applicants. Female county workers make up 20 percent of those jobs; in the community it's more than double at 42 percent.

"I can only recall one female who's applied for the day maintenance positions in the 20 years that I've been here, and she actually made it as a finalist," said Maintenance Supervisor, Renee Warner.

The county meets or exceeds the percentage of females in job categories of administrators, administrative support, professionals, and skilled crafts, but females represent just 33 percent of jobs in technical fields, which include computer programmers, nurses, and highway technicians, while in the community at large, female technicians represent about 60 percent of the work force.

For sworn protective services, females make up less than ten percent of sheriff's deputies and correction officers, while in the cities, female sworn protective workers, like police officers and firefighters, make up nearly 20 percent of jobs.

"Some changes we can make are to look at where we advertise county positions and try to do more outreach to the targeted groups. There are some things that we can change and do better," Kropp.

Deschutes County Commissioners heard the lastest stats Monday and were expected to sign the Equal Opportunty Employment Plan into action.

The community numbers are updated every ten years with the census, so those statistics are nine years old.